Grandchildren

It’s not often I sit in front of the screen and have difficulty in starting a blog. Words aren’t generally my deficit~ can I get an Amen?
But, this morning, I find myself with a crazy mixed bag of emotions following a very unique Friday.
It began with my reaching out on Facebook to a special family member and receiving an unexpected response! I was a little ticked off at myself for expecting silence~ where is my faith?! In any case, her response to my message opened the window to hope and that little gesture changed everything for the people I love.
Nothing could have prepared me for what happened next; an unexpected, purely God directed meeting with my son-in-law and grandson in a grocery store parking lot at 9AM. Spotting Killian, holding him, laughing with him and soaking in the joy of just looking at him while he smiled back at me is a feeling I can’t begin to describe. The circumstances are complicated and the back story is one that would take days to try to explain but my daughter has made decisions that have removed Killian from seeing his grandparents, his step-grandparent and his great grandparents without supervision. As Killian’s parent, she has the right to do that.
It breaks my heart because she knows how much love we have for Killian. She knows how much love we have for her. But, again, it is her legal right and she has dug her heels in despite her dad and I separately asking for a reconsideration. Anyway, enough of that sordid family disfunction. The heartbreak came in Killian and I having to eventually end our leisurely stroll around the grocery store; our stop at the bakery for a little cookie, his fascination with a box of toothpaste, his giggles over going fast in the cart, his flirting with a lady restocking cosmetics. Back in the parking lot, my son-in-law broke the news that they’re moving out of Florida and back to where their drama all began 10 years ago. I literally handed Killian back to his dad with the full understanding that I may not see him again for a very long time and I wept all the way home. I’m crying as I write this~ my heart feels as though it’s sitting far below its rightful place in my chest; it feels as though it’s under my feet.
As I was driving home, I glanced at my phone to see that my bonus daughter (my husband and I don’t have step-children; we have bonus kids) had texted to say that she had been instructed to go to the birthing center. AWESOME! Her nearly 41 week pregnancy was finally coming to an end and Elora was coming!

As you can see from my disheveled appearance in the parking lot of Winn Dixie, I needed to get myself together and off we went to welcome Elora in to the world. My bonus daughter, Ryanne, went from arrival at the birthing center to delivery of a beautiful, perfect baby girl in less than 3 hours. Incredible. To make it even more special, Elora shares a birthday with her cousin, 1 year old Hunter.
So Maya is now a big sister and Rick and I got to keep the big sister overnight~ topped off with games at Chuck E. Cheese.
What a day.
Life is like that, isn’t it? The highs and lows.
It can literally take your breath away.